By Abby Rathburn | Staff Writer
Running from Tuesday, Jan. 20 to Friday, Jan. 23, Heavenly Voices Gospel Choir is hosting an online fundraiser titled Popcorn with a Purpose to raise money for Gospel Fest.
Over the past few years, the club has not run many fundraiser opportunities, so this is a relatively new step. The idea was pitched by their secretary, as the quick and easy online access seemed like a great way to raise some extra money to host Gospel Fest.
According to Sylvia Jones, a Heavenly Voices member and a third year doctoral student from Auburn, Wash., Gospel Fest is the choir’s biggest event of the year.
“Last year, we had our biggest turnout in quite a few years, so we’re excited for this year too,” Jones said.
They will host Gospel Fest on Feb. 21 in Truett Seminary. The event will feature performances by universities across Texas, including the University of North Texas, TCU and others.
Last year, the event was held at a historically Black church, and Jones said it was packed, a true testament of a desire to hear gospel music.
“We see the gift that God’s giving us of this community on campus, this desire to hear gospel music, and we’re trying to steward that well and understand that,” Jones said. “This fundraiser is preparing us to be able to put on Gospel Fest, not just for ourselves, not just for Baylor, but for the Waco community at large.”
Students, faculty and anyone else looking to donate can purchase from a member’s storefront, and popcorn will be shipped to them as a thank-you. Fifty percent of all proceeds go directly toward Heavenly Voices’ initiative.
Jones said Heavenly Voices hopes to raise $275 — a number they have had planned all semester.
“It’s small, but we can do it,” Jones said.
That goal is one small piece of a much larger story of the organization’s purpose and history on campus, according to an article from The Baylor Line.
“Heavenly Voices represents a continuance in the tradition of Black sacred song,” the article reads. “Styles will change from generation to generation and so will music tastes, but there are performance practices and cultural emblems that transfer and maintain value.”
Originally founded by Tonja Carpenter in 1988, this club was intended to be a place where students could come to experiment with gospel music. Over the years, it has continued to bring together students in a collaboration of song performance and faith.
Queens, N.Y., senior Monica Malas, a church music major, said Heavenly Voices has been a place of experimentation. Different from the type of music she studies all day in her classes, she gets to participate in something much more “freeing and very experimental.”
“There [are] a couple of things that were really intriguing at first, but I will say the community aspect has been a very big part of it,” Malas said. “Everyone is very interconnected and we try to make newcomers feel as welcome as possible.”
Community is a central theme of Heavenly Voices, providing students with a home where they can feel supported and free to express themselves. Heavenly Voices ministers through music in hopes of touching the lives of others in a unique and special way, Malas said.
“When it comes to HV, it’s just a place of safety,” Malas said. “It’s a place of just really resting in the presence of the Lord … When it comes to what we sing in HV, it’s very freeing.”
